A typical vehicular seat is comprised of a skeletal frame manufactured from steel or other structural material upon which is supported a foam or other suspension system. The foam and/or suspension system in the seat is covered with a trim piece, typically, made of a fabric, leather or other sheet type roll material to provide an attractive appearance, comfort for the occupant, as well as durability and maintenance.
The typical vehicular seat is covered with a trim material that consists of numerous patterned pieces which are specifically cut to accommodate the various contours of the seat. These pattern pieces are typically sewn together to form a 3 dimensional shell into which the frame and seat suspension components are placed. Every one of the trim pattern pieces includes a peripheral portion known as selvage. Selvage is the specially defined edge of trimmed fabric or other covering material through which sew stitching is placed to join the pieces together. Typically, 8 to 10 millimeters of selvage is added to each side of a seam for sewing. The selvage material is customarily embedded below the visible surface, and thereby forms material which adds weight, cost and unnecessary bulk to any seat assembly.
In a typical front row cloth seat of a motor vehicle, approximately 16% of the trim material is selvage. Selvage is something of a necessary evil, in that it adds cost, mass and creates craftsmanship and comfort issues. Various attempts have been proposed to eliminate or reduce the selvage. However, none of the alternatives to date have proven sufficient to adequately offset the traditional method of sewing seams that are backed by a reasonable amount of selvage.
Thermoplastic film adhesives have been developed to eliminate the need for sewing in garments designed for body wear. While film adhesives of this type have been applied in body wear type garment applications, there has been no suggestion or motivation to extend use of the product outside of the garment industry due to the highly specialized nature of various fabric joining operations.